SAN FRANCISCO — The Indiana Fever were down 90-88 with five seconds left Thursday night, and had multiple chances to tie the game and force overtime against the Golden State Valkyries at Chase Center.
They just didn’t fall.
The first chance to tie came with three seconds left, as Aliyah Boston forced her way through the paint to try and get to the basket. She was double-teamed, missed the shot, then the Valkyries forced a jump ball to kill as much time as possible.
The Fever (4-3) won the jump ball, but there were only 0.6 seconds left on the clock after Caitlin Clark grabbed the ball and motioned for a timeout.
At that point, coach Stephanie White went to her reliable play in those late-game, need-a-basket situations — especially ones with limited time on the clock. Sophie Cunningham got the ball inbounded to Boston, who turned around and got a 13-foot floater off before the buzzer sounded. That ball bounced off the rim.
“I thought they were both good looks,” White said after the 90-88 loss. “You know, they’re a really good defensive team, and when you get the opportunity to get some clean looks, it’s important. I thought we got some good looks, but they just didn’t go down.”
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The game didn’t have to come down to those final shots, either, but the Valkyries’ stingy defense gave them an advantage in the second half. Golden State went on a 15-2 run from the 46-second mark of the third quarter to the 6:46 mark of the fourth, turning what was a 67-60 lead for the Fever into a 75-69 Valkyries lead.
Indiana had to spend the rest of the game trying to play catch up. Some miscues, including back-to-back turnovers from Clark in the final two minutes, didn’t help the Fever make the best of their offensive possessions, either.
“They’re an excellent, excellent defensive team,” White said. “When they can get their defense set, I felt like they really dictated the pace and the tempo, because they were able to set their defense. A lot of that came from our fouls, put them at the free-throw line, so they did what they were supposed to do.”
Boston, in general, wasn’t able to get into much of a groove against the Valkyries because of some early fouls. She only played four minutes in the first quarter, then picked up two offensive fouls over the course of 32 seconds — both of which she disagreed with — at the beginning of the second quarter. That forced her to sit for the rest of the half.
She was called for a third offensive foul in the third quarter, but White successfully challenged that to get it changed to a blocking foul on Laeticia Amihere, who had tried to sell the drawn foul with a fall.
“I wasn’t even able to get into a flow,” Boston said. “I mean, I played the second half, but I think it’s super hard to try and figure out and understand how the refs are calling it. I think it’s super hard to get charge fouls when I don’t think anyone’s in a legal position. I mean, shout out to the Valks. They did a great job selling it, and the refs bought it, to be honest, so good for them.”
It was a game in which the Fever, going up against a lengthy defense in the Valkyries, couldn’t find a groove. Multiple things at the end of the game could’ve contributed to it, like the back-to-back turnovers, back-to-back missed shots, but the Fever also started slow by shooting 25% from the field in the first quarter (including an 0-of-8 mark from 3-point range).
Indiana had some flashes, like the bench getting the Fever back into the game in the second quarter and Raven Johnson scoring a career-high 16 points off the bench, but, as a team, they weren’t consistent enough to put it together.
Chloe Peterson is the Indiana Fever beat reporter for IndyStar. Reach her at chloe.peterson@indystar.com or follow her on X at @chloepeterson67. Get IndyStar’s Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Caitlin Clark Fever newsletter. Subscribe to IndyStar TV: Fever for in-depth analysis, behind-the-scenes coverage and more.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Inconsistent offense plagues Fever in loss to ‘excellent, excellent defensive team’
Reporting by Chloe Peterson, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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